How do you decide when to buy a new computer, smartphone, etc.?
I have been thinking about this issue lately because I own some devices that still work as normal, but are really old (one being almost eight, and the other almost seven years old).
The dilemma is the following:
I don’t actually need to upgrade these devices, because newer models don’t have any new features that I have any need of. What my current devices do is all that I need them to do, and that could probably still be true for many more years to come.
In other words, if I get an upgrade now, then I would be wasting money because I could just stick with my current device until it breaks for good and then buy a new one instead.
The problem is that, if I wait until that point, then I’ll be left without a device that I need for everything that I do on a daily basis, until I have been able to save up the money to buy a new one.
This makes me think that I should maintain a “critical device failure” fund, just in case. But even if I do, that doesn’t solve all the problems.
With my smartphone, for example, I use it for online banking authentication. There is no alternative system that I can use where I live, and this system can only be tied to one device at a time. There is always the risk that if I lose my phone, then I would also lose access to my online banking app, which is a service that due to certain circumstances, my wife and I use on a daily basis. We truly depend on it. I would have to quickly buy a new device, and then rush to the bank, to go through a long and gruesome process of getting the permission to install the app on the new phone (true story).
Ironically, I can “transfer” the app between devices, but that feature is useless if I let my smartphone completely die first.
And there are many other similar apps and services that I regularly use, which I can hold on one device only.
I also know, however, that whatever date I choose to upgrade these devices on, will be a mostly arbitrary one. So... shrug
Just to give you a final example: The battery on my smartphone wasn’t doing too well, so after almost six years, I finally got it replaced. It was surprisingly cheap, considering how it breathed new life into my device. Maybe I was just imagining it, but it suddenly seemed to work faster, not to mention that the battery lasts way longer now, obviously. Many people that I know though, would just have tossed this six-year-old device and gotten a new one. For them, a dying battery is synonymous with a dying phone, and at the six year mark, that’s... maybe not a completely unreasonable way of thinking?
But anyway.
How do you device when you upgrade a device?
You have two different concerns in the post. Ok concern 1 (the major theme) I don't upgrade until the thing no longer fulfils it's purpose (i.e. I will not upgrade my phone until I break it) or for online tech it no longer receives security patches. Anything else I think is a waste of money for the obvious reasons.
Ok the minor concern: your phone can be rendered inoperable on any day at any time so its age isn't really a factor in planning for this imo. If you absolutely need minimal time between working phones then I'd get the cheapest Motorola available with android, which is sub $100 (at least in the UK) and set it up, then I'd stick it in a drawer and charge it every so often (or figure out some other battery conditioning strategy).
I don't do this, because I can access everything I need without a phone, but if I absolutely had to have one available that's what I would do. I absolutely cannot live without a computer so I have multiple that I can cobble together without a purchase.
I'd do this OP, or alternatively you could upgrade while you think it's at the end of its life, and then keep it around as a backup device. That's what I do - I have my 'new' 3.5 year old laptop, and then I have my - now almost 10 - year old laptop. It struggles to work, but i start it up every 6 months and check if its still okay, and thus far its been fine except i can't use it without plugging it in. So I know that if my 'new' laptop ever dropped dead on me I'd at least live for a few days while deciding on a new one and waiting for it to arrive.
No security updates or irreparable damage, whichever is closer.
Though I've been using my 2017 MacBook Pro with OpenCore Legacy Patcher because the current laptops are too expensive if you need a lot of RAM. I do need a lot of RAM.
I do exactly this. I upgraded my phone because security updates were running out, despite the phone itself still working fine. Otherwise, I'll keep using old stuff as long as it still works reasonably well.
For phones, I'm iPhone 100%, I love the ecosystem. The yearly releases are pretty underwhelming so I have the phone on a 4-5 year lifecycle where I buy it outright and use a MVNO for service so I am not tied to a contract or anything.
For my computer (build my own desktop) I will usually orient it around whoever is winning the CPU deathmatch at the time, I will aim to get a new motherboard typically around the launch of a new long term socket standard so I can have options to upgrade CPU over the lifespan of that socket type. Major parts (CPU/Memory/GPU/Storage) on a 4 year lifecycle with the "old" desktop going to the great server farm in the basement to do stuff
For laptop I have an M1 macbook and even though its like 4 years old I still could see it going for another 4 probably. Hard to gauge when I will need a new one.
This made me laugh. lol
I use android phones. I switch when the chipset no longer gets security updates, so somewhere around 3-5 years. (I usually replace the battery around the two-year mark as well.)
For desktop computers, when something physically expires. I've been running a 3700X-based system for many, many years, and it's still more than fast enough to do anything I want. I did swap out my original 3070 video card with a hand-me-down 3090ti from a client, but honestly, the 3070 was absolutely fine.
For laptops, I currently have a Surface Pro 4 laptop, and it's battery is finally starting to be a pain, and the hinge is a little loose. When it finally gives up the ghost, I'll get a Framework of some flavor, and go from there.
Honestly, it has been a very long time since upgrades of this class of tech have brought much to the table. I'm fine with that. My wallet certainly appreciates the lack of need to upgrade, at least!
I'm basically the same way. My last phone was a Pixel 4a that I got rid of because its selfie camera died, and my province's digital ID requires you to do a little dance for them, pose in a few different directions and say the words they ask you to. This can only be done on the selfie camera, so I needed to buy a new one last year.
I'm still rocking an i7 7700k with an RTX3060. I've got a 4k projector on a 100 inch screen but I'm happy to play modern games at high/ultra quality on 1080p.
What do people do if they cant afford a smart phone or their area has really spotty internet?
Also, what do people do if they don’t know how to use a smart phone?
So many questions lol you can tell I live in the states where theres pockets of our population literally still in 1960
There's a government subsidy program that will provide you a smartphone if you meet the income requirements and apply for it.
Idk, suffer?
Yeah generally around here the older folks rely on their families to help them learn how to use a smart phone.
I’m thinking a country with such a system that requires one probably has some kind of support for elderly or disabled people to be able to navigate government systems?
I actually just got back from China, which is probably the closest anywhere has gotten to being fully smart phone-ized. A lot of the elderly do find the appificafion challenging. Generally they either get support from younger relatives. There’s also always at least an option to speak to humans instead. You’ll always see lots of the elderly getting help at subways, for instance.
You think they have a better family community in China? Ive found the rural US to be comparatively isolating but my only other experience is South America where they have super strong family networks
I've certainly read that Asian countries in general have much greater respect for elders and therefore strong generational networks.
Many areas in the US will have a local dept on aging and a senior center. They often have educational and social activities and they're absolutely places where seniors ask other seniors and the staff/volunteers there for support. But the lack of tech savviness can be isolating. I'm wondering how my mom's generation (tail end of boomers) will adapt since they're already online.
Its been a hell of a time getting my nearly 90 year old grampa on board with all these services. He still cant navigate the dmv website, he expects a form and gets a chat bot instead and just cannot see past it.
I already hated chatbot support for how bad it is for me, but now considering how challenging they can be for people who cannot see the invisible walls they put up it makes them seem straight-up evil.
I actually quite like the implementation that my state did, its really slick, quick response time, my grampa just struggles with the format its like he sees its weird and his brain just turns off
I have the iPhone 14 Pro in purple, since purple is my favorite color. It’s right around three years old now. I was tempted by the 15 because of usb c, but the pro color options were awful. I was tempted by the 16 because usb c, but again, there were no good colors. I will be tempted by the 17, and if they have a pro in purple, I will almost certainly buy it. But it seems like Apple hates color right now, so I’ll probably be using my 14 for the foreseeable future.
I know deciding based on color seems pretty shallow, but my phone value is sitting at about 91 cents per day right now. For something that cheap that I use every day, I’m willing to spend a bit extra for a color I like. And in my case, it’s caused me to upgrade less than I might have otherwise.
For my iPad, I use it exclusively for content consumption. I upgraded/sold a few iPads until I got to the 2021 iPad with the mini led screen. It is a fantastic device. I am tempted by the oled screen on the 2024 one. If I happen to have some extra money in the future, I may get it, but it’s probably my lowest upgrade priority.
For my computer, last fall I upgraded from an M1 MacBook Air to an M3 Max Pro. I stupidly got 8gb ram on the first one, and that was just too tight. The M3 max cost an insane amount of money, so I am keeping it for a long time.
For my watch, I have a series 8, which is going on 3 years old, just like my phone. It will be getting a new battery soon (it’s at 81%, so just two percentage points to go). I don’t feel any reason to upgrade that. I get new watch bands from time to time to make it feel new, but the actual device is just fine. My only real use for it is fitness tracking, and it does just fine with that. I ran a half marathon last summer, and it only used like 60% of the (already aging) battery, without any power saving like turning off cellular. I do want to run a full marathon in the future. If I do, I might splurge and get the ultra for the battery life. But I’m currently recovering from a knee injury, so that is a long ways off.
To summarize, I mostly just upgrade for new features, but only features I actually care about. Although I do pay for AppleCare plus on my phone. With that, I am basically guaranteed to have a working phone quickly almost anywhere in the world.
I don't have advice, I have my own "upgrade system mentality" though. Basically I wait for device to be really obsolete or unusable (it breaks down on hardware level).
I have recently "upgraded" my desktop from first generation Core i5 to fourth generation because I got it free. If I didn't, I would still be running the old one. I have upgraded GPU a few times in those almost 15 years and bought some RAM and SSD - I did that when I had spare money and actual need to do it.
My phone on the other hand... In those 15 years I have my desktop PC, I had phones from Sony Ericsson K750i (basically dumb phobe with MP3 player) through really cheap Android 2.0 (not 2.1) phone, Nokia N900 to iPhone 5 and SE and back to N900 and then Pinephone back to N900 for a month and now I have Nokia G22.
This was voyage of discovery of mine. I tried quite a lot and I had reasons to go each step of the way.
Cheap Android phone (at the time around 150€) was at the time when normal Androids cost 300€ and more and Android was still starting to catch its share of the market. I wanted to try Android and it was good experience (on slow device though).
I went for Nokia N900 as I liked the idea of pure Linux on it. Being the flagship (at some time) it run fast and responsive and it was great experience. I still own the phone and I still love it. Software killed it though, it is basically unusable today due to old certificates, unsupported software, you can't open a webpage in it, it lacks many features of modern world.
This is why I went iPhone. I wanted to try iOS and not to fiddle with settings - just use the phone. Great experience (at the time) with OS and Apple ecosystem. Too bad three iPhons died on me through say 4-5 years. Hardware failures and their pricy repairs turned me away.
I went to N900 for time being just to be able to make calls and do SMS.
Then I stumbled upon Pinephone, which is once again full Linux phone with modern software. I wouldn't recommend it even to enthusiasts though. It is kinda devkit. It works on hardware side (but has sub-par cell reception) to some extent - ie. camera is shit, but works. Software is also working, but the whole experience has very rough edges. Usable though. Until I dropped it and damaged digitizer...
N900 again and wait for Nokia G22 to start selling in Czech Republic. And I have G22 since. I bought this one as I once more wanted to know Android (and its stance 10 years after my first experience with it) and just use my phone without too much fiddling. G22 specifically because I like the "fix it yourself" mentality. I want my devices to be repairable at home and not locked down (I'm looking at you, Apple) thus I out my money where my mouth is and bought such device. It is low-end Android phone, but it works fairly well.
I don't have the need to buy new phone. I will likely do so when this one becomes too slow or gets damaged beyond (ecnomically viable) repair. If I crack the screen, I can fix it myself and I will likely do so, though. Mainboard would have to die on me for me to buy a new phone.
Manufacturers typically provide a one to two-year warranty, guaranteeing free repairs for any manufacturing defects during this period. Most devices last much longer though. I use a simple rule: I plan to upgrade after double the warranty period. For phones, this means 4-5 years. While your device may still function after this time, newer software is optimized for newer hardware, and you'll likely notice performance decline. I keep my old phone as a backup and check it regularly.
Desktop PCs and laptops can last even longer. My previous PC served me for 10 years with occasional component upgrades, only becoming obsolete when hardware standards changed. My MacBook Pro lasted 7 years until it developed screen issues — repair shops couldn't fix it because they considered the model "vintage". With the ability to upgrade components, computers can remain useful for up to a decade.
In 2022, I got a M1 MacBook Air to replace an aging, but perfectly fine 2015 MacBook Pro, lured by all those great reviews of Apple Silicon Macs. I was… disappointed: it’s a great machine, the best I ever had, and I love its fanless arquitecture, but my work and routine didn’t change at all. (My work is mostly reading and typing on a computer.)
Since then, I plan to replace gadgets when they break. It will be an annoyance, for sure, but consider that something similar can happen at any day: your phone could be stolen, broken or misplaced. Having a plan is good, but I wouldn’t obsess over this.
For several different reasons not worth getting into now, I used to get new phones every year. I got the first Google Nexus 1 phone and I've owned every single Nexus and Pixel phone until Pixel 5, along with a few other phones here and there. when i got Pixel 5 a month or so after the release, I never got another phone. I am still using a pixel 5 and have no intention of upgrading. I've even bought a couple of used ones to hold me over when this one dies.
I'm the type of person that literally waits until something is irreparably broken or severely falling apart before replacing it. As an example, I only got rid of my last phone because the shattered glass from the screen was getting shoved under my finger nails when used (and it's still in a drawer somewhere). It's not just that I hate throwing things away, it's also because I hate buying stuff and it takes so damn long for me to make a decision on what to get. Smartphones in particular, because it absolutely needs a headphone jack and I reaaaaally hate bloatware, so choices are limited.
Having said that, I always (intentionally or not) have a backup. Usually it's my work phone (which gets 0 use), or an old phone that's on its last legs but can fill the gap for a few days, or I get a hand-me-down from someone who doesn't need their phone anymore.
Could you get a cheap entry level smartphone as a backup just in case? Or would someone be willing to lend you one if the worst were to happen?
Edit: some spelling mistakes
The last four phones I owned were the Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 6 Pro (XL), and Pixel 8 Pro (XL). For the 2, 4, and 6, I feel like they were solid upgrades with improvements over the prior models, so while I didn't need them, I felt there were enough benefits to make it worthwhile (which makes sense, as they were iterating on designs and still figuring out what works best).
For the Pixel 8, I held out until Black Friday to save a couple hundred more dollars on the phone since it was much less of an upgrade vs the 6.
I'm not sure what I'll do about the Pixel 10... I expect we'll start to hear more rumors about it pretty soon, so we'll have to see what it offers. Hopefully they have more in store than just "newer, better, built-in, dedicated Tensor chip to support Pixel 10 exclusive AI-powered features!" to entice me... but I'm not very optimistic that will happen. So when (or whether?) I upgrade to the Pixel 10 will probably really end up being a question of the price point.
It's worth noting that I do opt for the 2-year preferred care coverage for damages (not the recurring monthly subscription). I really probably shouldn't, but I feel like I will 100% drop and break my phone as soon as I opt to forgo the coverage.
For my PC, last year I finally gave in and rebuilt (which really just meant a new motherboard, CPU, and CPU cooler, and installing the Samsung 980 Pro NVMe drive I got on sale a year or two earlier as the new primary drive) in order to upgrade from an Intel Core i7 6700K to the 13700K.
My PC was still doing alright when I decided to rebuild, and I had done other upgrades since first building it (e.g., adding another 16 GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 1080 to RTX 3080 (12 GB)), so it didn't stay feeling like an 8 year old PC, which also helped with the budgeting aspect of it. The 1080 to 3080 also felt like a great choice and, with the prices and power consumption of the newer series, I really haven't been tempted by any of the new GPU releases.
And, in January, I just upgraded to an Xbox Series X after 10 years with the Xbox One. I don't really do a ton of gaming anymore (mostly just twice a week with my son), but the loading times for some of the LEGO games we like to play together were downright painful, and with the expected tariffs coming from Trump, I figured it was probably a good time to upgrade (which, given their recently announced price increases, feels justified).
So, as you can see, I don't have a real strategy for when to upgrade... a lot of it depends on market conditions and prices, but "how big of an upgrade is this?" and "how much do I want this?" is definitely a big factor.
For my computers, when performance no longer meets my needs for what I want to do with it. My desktops tend to get old and be kept for awhile, but I'm on this cycle of pretty much upgrading my laptop every year or two, it seems. That said, I pretty much exclusively use used tech, which is several years old and try to get it at a step discount while selling the old stuff. My new laptop I bought in April is from early 2022.
For my phone's, again when performance is crappy enough to piss me off frequently. I usually buy cheap Android phones ($200ish) and they tend to last about 2 years a pop before they become frustrating; my current one still performs fine, but has been frustratingly crappy since the day I bought it, but it's at the 2 year mark now, so I'll probably replace it this year.
I am, like I somewhat sense OP might be, pretty heavily budget-limited. My phone right now is a oneplus 8t, which is a five year old device. My current laptop is a ThinkPad T480, which is a seven year old device. Certainly I only replace if the device breaks in a way that I cannot repair, or if it becomes so outdated that it cannot function for my work/daily needs.
The biggest issue I see is that OP has a number of security protocols which rely on his devices, and which aren't friendly to the replacement process. I'd argue that it's these protocols which should be changed. The banking one seems especially absurd. I'd have a conversation with the bank IT people and see if some alternate two factor tools are available. I am able to two factor a number of different ways for my bank and work accounts, because sometimes you don't have cell service, or sometimes stuff just breaks. I can't imagine having anything "mission critical" locked behind a single point of failure.
Your philosophy of holding on to devices for as long as possible is great, imo. It's environmentally friendly, teaches resourcefulness, and it's frugal. All good things by my rules. That's how I live too, and it's a big part of how intend to raise my children. We need more of this, not less.
Generally I buy when my current phone has an issue that makes it borderline unusable or would be prohibitively expensive/impossible to take to a repair shop due to the age or obscurity of the model. Of the last three phones I've had...
OnePlus 1 I replaced because the power button straight-up stopped functioning. This was in part due to me dropping the phone and it sustaining damage. I also kinda replaced it at the time when I went through a bad breakup and didn't want to keep any of the WeChat or LINE messages we had exchanged. I didn't replace it until mid-2019, after which it was several years old and so obscure that finding replacement parts would have been a night,are.
Razer Phone 2 I replaced because it's a crock of shit. It had audio issues when I first had it where the phone would occasionally emit a loud buzz from its speakers, but the real problem was the USB-C port which was faulty within a year (after warranty expired.) Things were so bad that I actually invested in a wireless charger just to keep the damn thing charged. Others on the Razer subreddit had the same problem and you could in theory RMA the phone, until you find out that you're sending the phone all the way to Hong Kong and Razer are going to charge you hundreds of dollars for the repair/replacement, which is more than some people paid for the fucking phone (I paid £400 because it was discounted in a sale.) It's a shitty business practice that has made me boycott the company and never go near any of their products again.
The current phone I have (OnePlus 10 Pro) has served me rather well for the approx. 4 years I've had it but it now has a tendency to overheat and drink battery. This could be more-so down to how badly optimized some mobile games are.
I like new tech and so upgrade frequently. From that standpoint we're so different that I'm not sure I have anything useful to offer you.
I'd note, though, that if your phone is 7-8 years old, it's almost certainly end-of-life from a security perspective. (Most manufacturers maintain patches for 5 years. Only recently have some started to guarantee 7 years.)
That's not good. You should replace it for that reason alone. I'd argue that that is a need - I hear you on battery life and processing speed and all that still being fine, but your life is on your phone. You need it to be secure.
My sympathies that you have to use any important app or service which can't be used from more than one device. That seems outrageous to me. I suppose it's perhaps acceptable for less important things, like streaming services.
I just recently upgraded my PC. I didn't especially feel like I needed the upgrade, as while my last full upgrade was in 2009 (though I more recently got some of my brother's hand-me-down parts, which were from 2014), it was a good PC that still ran well. It was no longer a very good gaming PC, but that's pretty secondary to me. I do like PC games, but really can't afford to keep up with it for that reason.
I made the upgrade (PCPartPicker link here if ya want) for two reasons: one, because Windows 10 support is running out and I don't want to be without security updates; but primarily because my country's president is destroying my country for his personal gain and I have no idea what he's going to do to the PC components market.
If not for that second point, I would've waited until it was basically no longer functional for my work needs and general use or until I'd saved up enough "fun money" to be able to afford it with that. But for fun, I generally care about other things more, so hadn't saved up for it.
As an aside, I am happy to have the newer PC, but I honestly don't notice much difference. It's better for games, but otherwise it seems about the same.
For phones, it tends to be about 4-5 years. After that, the battery life is usually quite noticeably diminished, security updates are stopped and also the cosmetic wear and tear starts to become quite noticeable.
For laptops my last purchases were in 2012, 2017, 2022 and 2024. However, I now have two laptops in service. The 2022 laptop was a framework 13, which is light, decent battery, I've installed Linux on it, and is still my primary laptop. However, the one thing it doesn't have is any gaming horsepower, since it just has the Intel 12th gen igpu. So the 2024 laptop is a sort of single purpose device for gaming. I guess that means I'm basically on a 5 year cycle for laptops too, as I don't see an urgent need to replace the framework any time soon.
For desktops, I'm basically on two alternating 5 years cycles. On one cycle I upgrade my CPU/motherboard/RAM and the other cycle I upgrade my GPU. With that said, my 5900X is coming up on 5 years and I'm not super in a rush to upgrade this soon. The 9950X3D is nice and tempting, but I don't really need it, so I'm probably going to give it another generation there.
Also my old CPU/RAM/etc get recycled into my home server anyway.
I'm not really worried about phones breaking. iCloud backups are very good at this. The last times I've upgraded a phone from iPhone to iPhone have been completely seamless. Logins and the such come with the backup.
I break whenever the current device annoys me too much. The cost is honestly the least important factor - the hassle is a bigger impediment. IMO the cost of things like phones and laptops are extremely minor when amortized out throughout their usage time.
I get a new laptop or computer basically when a game comes out that I want to play and I can't play it on my current device. I got a laptop when skyrim came out, I built a desktop when GTAV came out, then I bought a laptop when Elden Ring came out. I know there is a lot of hate for gaming laptops, but being able to pop my laptop open at a hotel room or plug it into the TV in my living room to game is so nice.
With computers, I'll look into an upgrade every third GPU release. So for example, my current machine has a 3070ti, which means I'll wait for a 6-series before I even consider buying new hardware. Its not that the GPU is central to what I'm doing (though it is important), it's that by the time we've had a few new series everything else has improved/kept pace, it's just an easy/simple way to set a threshold for looking around.
With phones I just use it until its problems outweigh its benefits. As in, I don't wait for it to be unusable, I wait for it to get annoying. I have to use this cursed mini-monolith all the time so it's more about what a day with it is like than it is "does this work at all", if that makes sense. If I'm spending the day having to fiddle and be annoyed I'll look around and see what I can find. i have a high tolerance for jank so that tends to work out to every three or four years or so.
With both kinds of devices I will always go after open-box/returns/refurbs too. Sometimes you can get pretty lucky, especially around/after big holidays.
I will say, my calculus around this has changed significantly in the past three or four years. I do not want a device with an ai assistant, a lot of hardware has been disappointing/lame, and a bunch of software has also been really lame. At this point, though it's around the usual time I'd be looking, I'm not. Instead I'm looking at components and replacement parts, because I happen to be able to do that sort of stuff myself. I intend to keep my current setup going for as long as I can maintain it, given how little I care about what's coming out today.
For phones, I upgrade every 3-4yrs. I just upgraded a little after the 3yr mark (mainly because of tariff fears) last month.
I'm an iPhone user. In my experience, Apple devices tend to have longevity over their competitors. But the device will eventually start showing its age. And eventually, even Apple will stop supporting the device (ie won't get security updates, new features, which means even non-Apple apps stop working or at least getting updates). I think that's at the 7yr mark for iPhones. So I could wait til that point.
But I use my previous model as a backup. I get the battery replaced. This way, if something happens to my new/current phone, I have something that I can rely on for some time, that's still fully supported. May not be the snappiest phone anymore, but it still works.
For computers, I don't really have a solid timeframe like I do with my phones. Though based on history, I typically don't go longer than 7yrs. But that's mainly for my custom built desktops, where I upgrade parts here and there. For laptops, I've done 5-7yrs for Macbooks. For Windows laptops...just kinda whenever I feel like it. I think the last Windows laptop I bought was from 2018. So it's probably coming up on time? But I don't use it that much anymore anyway (my MBP is my main laptop).
This argument gets a lot of hate online but it matches my experience as well. I tried Android phones at several price points in the past, and the battery would get destroyed fairly quickly, which also reduced performance. (And I tried all kinds of things to limit background apps, etc.)
Going through this, then seeing how many years of ownership my partner got out of their iPhone, led me to switch. I was very hesitant because I loved many things about Android, especially the (mostly) open source nature of it. But my experience has been mostly positive.
Apple has a strong advantage in this area because the OS can be catered to a small subset of hardware. They also have more aggressive rules for third party app development, which makes some things harder (like long-running background tasks), but I believe is ultimately a good thing.
Usually when the intended lifetime is over for a few years and either the battery starts to bloat or massively loses charge and it's hard to replace it or something.
For a PC it's when the hardware inside is so outdated and worn out, it's cheaper to just do everything new and the performance is like using a 2005 PC in 2018 or something.
Laptops specifically, I'm considering the moment the fan starts dying and the hardware is already outdated for a few years.
Pretty much when I want to and there is a compelling feature or practical increase in power.
Gonna focus on this bit, what you're talking about here is called self-insurance. Stuff you need should be insured (think health, car, home -- you're often screwed if these hit the fan and you are uninsured), and you describe your phone as something you need daily. Phone insurance is more a scam though so self insuring is your best bet, doubly so since you can (probably) tuck enough money away for a replacement (unlike your health, car, or home). I liked the recommendation to get a cheap backup android for emergency since even with insurance or a fund, there's still that gap until you get the replacement resolved.
When they no longer work.
My heuristics for this are kind of weird.
For phones, it depends on a few factors. I’m a mobile dev so I like to keep a range of devices available for testing purposes, especially on the Android side of things where behavior can differ in large and surprising ways between models, manufacturers, and OS versions. On the iOS side, Apple likes to introduce new form factor quirks and screen resolutions that can impact development every 2-4 gens, which can accelerate my upgrade rate there. Additionally, hand-me-downs are how one of my siblings gets their upgrades, so that can incline me towards upgrading too depending on how long it’s been since his last upgrade. End result is that I buy phones considerably more frequently than a lot of people, but it’s not the yearly cadence that some have. I would say on average a new phone of some kind every 2-3 years.
For computers I’m more aligned with the other posters here. I don’t wait until things are broken or unbearably slow, but if there’s significant gains to be had I might go for it. For instance I had been using an iMac Pro which is still plenty capable (and among the best aging Intel macs in existence), but the M1 series machines are considerably faster in several regards and so when a big discount showed up on a high-spec M1 Max 16” MBP after those had become old hat (M2 was towards the end of its lifecycle and M3 was about to be released), I upgraded. It’s served me well and even though the current gen equivalent (M4 Max) is substantially more powerful, the impact on day to day usage isn’t great enough for me to be able to justify replacing my MBP yet. Depending on how the M5 or M6 models perform I might upgrade then.
One big motivator for me is efficiency and fan noise. My gaming tower is still technically plenty enough for my usage in terms of performance, but its GPU is hot and noisy even after a fan mod which tempts me to replace it with a Radeon 9700 which seems to be considerably better on that front.
For hardware I'm 100% in the Apple ecosystem. Trying to use my iPhone and Apple Watch for at least 5 years. Went from iPhone 3GS (2009) to iPhone 5 (2012) to iPhone 8 (2017) and now my iPhone 13 (2021) is holding up pretty nicely. I don't have a PC anymore, just a laptop (M1).
I have no reason to upgrade as long as everything is in working order and I receive security updates.
I up graded my 1998 in 2003, 2003-2009,2009-2023( I built it to be upgraded for the long run), 2023 to current. That 2009 PC went from 4gigs of ram to 16 and a gtx285 to a gtx1060 to gtx2060 super 8gig running Linux and still gaming on it.
What CPU is it paired with?
For phones, my mindset has shifted a bit. (For reference, this is a US perspective.) I used to buy outright, get them on a cheaper MVNO, and hold on to them as long as possible.
However, I did notice network speeds on MVNOs were drastically slower than on their parent cell company's service. At first this wasn't a huge issue, but work and other reasons required better service. In the US, we're down to two major carriers, Verizon and T-Mobile. (I think AT&T might still be separate, but they don't seem to be worth it for the cost of their service.) So I effectively decided that I would hop between the two of them when they offered "free" phones with trade-in, knowing that this locks you into a device contract (Verizon's are 36 months). Just this week, Verizon offered a deal for both new and existing customers for a free iPhone 16 (or heavily discounted 16 Pro) with trade-in, so I'm sticking with Verizon for a while more. They are more expensive than T-Mobile, but I genuinely think I'm getting a decent value when you consider that most iPhones cost upwards of $1000 now.
Computers are another story. Both my personal and work laptops are compatible with Windows 11 (without having to bypass the TPM requirement), so I don't think I'll need to upgrade for a long time.
My gaming desktop is something that I upgrade as rarely as I can, usually only if something completely dies. I was running an NVIDIA 680 for a long time, and it was pretty capable of running most games in 1080p ultra wide at high settings until 2019ish.
I get a new smart phone as soon as there is no longer security updates for it anymore, precisely because I use it for online banking
As for laptops, I'm still running a really old think pad running debian, I think it has 4gb ram and a i5, I dunno, I don't do anything that requires more power, if I did then I would update
Mandatory plug:
one of the best people when it comes to tech purchases